Claims for compensation

Under the subrogation clause in your policy, the insurance company have the right to decide how to deal with the claim. You are lucky in the sense that you will not be liable for legal costs incurred by the insurance company unless it turns out that you did not make full disclosure to them. The insurance company will decide what to do on the basis of what is best for itself and not you. Sometimes hopeless defences are run and other times defensible cases are settled. they won't explain why they are taking any particular course of action. It is not the insurance company supporting you in a claim, it is the insurance company defending a claim against you on your behalf. the insurance company calls all the shots.

That’s not how it works. An insurer is typically on the hook for any award secured against you - hence why they have taken an interest in the claim. They may decide to continue to defend it, or settle with the other party, at any point, should they consider it is likely to result in a lower cost to them.

Just be aware that the case could take many years to reach court (or be formally withdrawn by the claimant), your insurer will most likely end up with a large legal bill for their defence which, it is unlikely they will be able to recover from the other party.

Even if you ultimately win this in court the insurer will be seriously out of pocket and, this is recorded as an open claim until such time as it is concluded one way or the other.

Separate to your question here I would suggest you now get a dashcam (front and rear facing) it should make any future scenarios much easier to deal with, as you will now realise the costs of a decent dashcam are wiped by one incident.

That is pretty standard bluff and bluster no matter how strong or weak a case is. Some insurance companies just keep kicking the can down the road and hope that the pressure will get to the Plaintiff. One of the biggest unknowns is who the Judge hearing the case will be. That is a significant factor in any decision to fight or settle.

That is not the procedure. You will be given a day which will start at 10.00 or 10.30. There will be a number of cases listed. Some will be adjourned, some will be announced as settled and others will run, in turn. The plaintiff calls his witnesses in turn to give direct evidence who are cross examined by the Defence after they have given their direct evidence. The judge may ask a question or two. When the Plaitiff is finished the defence then call their witnesses.
After that each side will summarise their case, based on the evidence, to the judge.
After that the judge gives a decision. Judges are not giving out their own money. Some think it is their duty to help their former colleagues by making awards to the defendants. Some don't like being told lies by plaintiffs and will sent them packing.